Firearm with falling breechblock

ABSTRACT

A FIREARM HAVING A FALLING BREECHBLOCK ADJACENT A BARREL, WHICH IS MOUNTED IN A STATIONARY POSITION ON THE FRAME OF THE FIREARM. THE BREECHBLOCK IS SLIDABLY MOUNTED, SUCH THAT IT IS DISPLACED BY THE MOVEMENT OF A CRANK LEVER CONNECTED TO A DISC ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON BEARING LOCATED IN THE SIDE WALLS OF THE BREECHBLOCK. A SPRING-BIASED PIN MEMBER IS SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN THE BREECHBLOCK AND IS   COCKED BY ABUTMENT MEANS LOCATED ON THE CRANK LEVER UPON THE PIN MEMBER WHEN THE BREECHBLOCK IS LOWERED BELOW THE BARREL. EXTRACTING MEANS ARE ALSO PROVIDE FOR PARTIALLY EXTRACTING A CARTRIDE FROM THE BARREL UPON MOVEMENT OF THE CRANK LEVER TO AN OPEN POSITION.

NOV. 23, 197] c COLLIANDER EIAL 3,621,595

FIREARM WITH FALLING BREECHBLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 11. 1969 INVENTOR CO\\\T- Co\\\0\nda\ Robex\ L. Mbexq ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,621,596 FIREARM WITH FALLING BREECHBLOCK Carl T. Colliander, Warwick, R.I., and Robert L. Hillberg, Cheshire, Conn., assignors to Colts Inc., Hartford,

Conn.

Filed Sept. 11, 1969, Ser. No. 856,968 Int. Cl. F41c 11/00, 7/00 US. Cl. 42-23 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A firearm having a falling breechblock adjacent a barrel, which is mounted in a stationary position on the frame of the firearm. The breechblock is slidably mounted, such that it is displaced by the movement of a crank lever connected to a disc rotatably mounted on bearings located in the side walls of the breechblock. A spring-biased pin member is slidably mounted in the breechblock and is cocked by abut-ment means located on the crank lever upon the pin member when the breechblock is lowered below the barrel. Extracting means are also provided for partially extracting a cartridge from the barrel upon movement of the crank lever to an open position.

This invention relates to firearms and in particular to a firearm having a falling breechblock.

High powered hunting and target rifles have become more and more popular in recent times and, in such weapons, the accuracy of the weapon is of prime importance. In order to achieve high accuracy, it is desirable to use high powered cartridges. It is further desirable that the breechblock lock as tightly as possible against the end of the barrel to prevent the escape of propellant gases. As such, most if not all of the force of the expending propellant gases is used to force the shell from the barrel of the firearm. In order to accomplish these purposes, innovators in the field have devised firearms wherein the barrel is affixed to the frame of the firearm, while the breechblock is movable to expose the rear of the barrel so that a shell may be inserted therein. In such firearms, it is necessary that be falling breechblock lock tightly against the cartridge in the barrel. When the breechblock locks tightly against the barrel, such a firearm is extremely accurate in operation with the use of ordinary, as well as high powered cartridges and such a firearm is, therefore, highly suitable for hunting or target practice.

Heretofore, such falling breechblock firearms had a number of disadvantages which prevented their general acceptance and manufacture. One such disadvantage resided in the fact that the falling breechblock portion of the weapon comprised many high tolerance parts and was difiicult, as well as expensive, to manufacture and assem ble. Further, as a result of the large number of parts and the type of action used to move the breechblock, the movement of the block generated an excessive amount of friction. As a result, an excessive amount of force was needed to move the breechblock. The large amount of friction generated would also cause the weapon to jam, and tend to prematurely wear out the moving parts, necessitating frequent repair and adding to the overall disadvantages associated with such firearms.

Another disadvantage of such prior art weapons is that the firing pin retracts very slowly during the initial lowering of the breechblock, resulting in the protruding portion of the firing pin remaining in contact with the end of the cartridge during the lowering and, thus, scraping across the base of the cartridge. After the weapon has been in operation for some time this condition becomes worse due to the wearing of the parts. This condition not only damages the pin, decreasing its efficiency and neces- ICC sitating its frequent replacement but, also, necessitates the application of great force to lower the breechblock.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to produce a new and comparatively inexpensive firearm having a falling breechblock.

Another object of this invention is to produce a new firearm having a falling breechblock which can be moved with minimum force.

A further object of this invention is to produce a new firearm having a falling breechblock, wherein the movement of the breechblock is accomplished by the use of a crank lever and rotatable disc. V

Yet another object of this invention is to produce a new, relatively inexpensive, highly accurate firearm, capable of using high powered cartridges, and which employs a falling breechblock and new crank lever means.

Still another object of this invention is to produce a new hammerless firearm having a falling breechblock which is operated by novel crank lever means that completely retract the firing pin means substantially before the breechblock has been lowered.

Yet a further object of this invention is to produce a new hammerless firearm having a falling breechblock that is operated by novel crank lever means which also operates cartridge-extracting means.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

In accordance with the objects set forth above, the firearm of this invention comprises a frame having a barrel aflixed thereto. A breechblock having spring-biased firing pin means slidably positioned therein, is slidably mounted in the frame. The breechblock is moved in the frame by crank lever means connected to bearing and disc means mounted in the breechblock, such that the movement of the breechblock is smooth and relatively friction-free. Abutment means are positioned on the crank lever means which act upon a finger member mounted on the firing pin means to simultaneously cock the firing pin means when the breechblock is lowered. Further, there is formed on the firing pin means a soulder area having a threaded bolt thereon for preventing the rotation of the firing pin means during operation of the firearm. The abutment means is positioned on the crank lever means so that, upon initial movement of the lever means, the firing means will be substantially retracted before the breechblock has been lowered a substantial distance. Extracting lever means are pivotally mounted in said frame and are acted upon by said bearing and disc means so as to partially eject a cartridge from the barrel. Trigger means are used to actuate said hammer and firing pin means so that the firing pin may strike a cartridge in said barrel.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a side view with certain parts in section, of the preferred embodiment of the firearm of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the firearm with the firing pin in a fully cocked position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the extracting lever in detail and the main cocking lever in open position;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the extracting lever in detail when it partially extracts a cartridge from the barrel;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a spring-pressed plunger acting on the extracting lever; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the firearm of the present invention comprises a frame member 10 having a barrel 12 threadably connected thereto in which a cartridge 14 can be inserted into the rear end of barrel 12. Adjacent the rear end of the barrel 12, hollow breechblock 16 is slidably mounted in a recess in the frame 10, the recess being in communication with the bore of barrel 12. The breechblock 16 is mounted within the recess so as to be capable of upward and downward movement transverse to the axis of the barrel between raised and lowered positions. As can be more clearly seen in FIG. 3, a structure including two discs 18 is rotatably mounted in the side walls of breechblock 16 by means of needle or equivalent roller bearings 20, interposed between the disks and the breechblock. The bearings 20 are contained in the side walls of breechblock 16 by means of bearing surfaces 22. The discs 18 are connected to the two flanged ends 24 of crank lever 26 by means of a pin 28, such that said flanged ends are connected to the lower part of discs 18 when the lever 26 is in its initial position. Preferably, a line passing through the axes of pins 28 and 30 should form an angle in the range of 40-50 with the horizontal when the longitudinal axis of barrel 12 is horizontal. The crank lever 26 is pivotally connected to frame 10 by means of pin 30. By manually grasping the handle portion 32 of crank lever 26 and moving the handle away from stock 34, the crank lever 26 will pivot about pin 30 to force breechblock 16 downward to the position shown in FIG. 2. As a result of the fact that crank lever 26 acts on breechblock 16 through frictionless rotating discs 18, it can be seen that the movement of breechblock 12 is smooth and considerably more friction-free than is encountered with prior art mechanisms.

At the end of flanged ends 24 of lever 26 there is also mounted roller 36 by means of pin 38. When lever 26 is in its initial position, as seen in FIG. 1, the axis of roller 36 lies in the upper portions of discs 18 to the left of the vertical plane passing through the axes of discs 18. Preferably, a line passing through the axes of pins 30 and 38 forms an angle in the range of 50-60 with the horizontal when the longitudinal axis of barrel 12 is horizontal. The advantages of mounting roller 36 on lever 26 in this position, as well as the above-described connection of lever 26 to discs 18, will be explained hereinafter.

A hammer or striker in the form of pin member 40, having a protruding portion 42 at its forward end is slidably mounted in breechblock 16 for movement between cocked and fired positions (FIGS. 2 and 1, respectively). The protruding portion 42 can pass through a bore 44 in breechblock 16 so as to strike and discharge cartridge 14. The forward end of pin member 40 is threaded, such that it can threadably engage abutment finger member 46, this threaded engagement permitting relative movement between members 40 and 46 to allow for adjustment of member 46. By simply rotating pin member 40, the abutment finger 46 may adjust so that it just abuts roller 36 when lever 26 is in its initial position. The pin member 40 is forced toward the cartridge by spring 48 seated in a depression in support plate 50 and maintained in position on plate 50 by spring guide 52. The plate 50 is maintained in frame member 10 by means of pin 54.

It will be noted that when handle 32 of crank lever 26 is moved downward, roller 36 immediately forces finger 46 and pin member 40 backward against the force of spring 48 until sear 56 locks into position in an annular depression '57 on pin member 40, as shown in FIG. 2. In this position, pin member 40 is locked in a fully cocked position for firing of the weapon.

A number of advantages result from the above positioning of roller 36 on lever 26 and the above-described, preferred connection of lever 26 to discs 18. During the initial movement of lever 26, breechblock 16 will move a slight increment upward and then a slight increment downward before beginning its main downward movement. At the same time, roller 36 moves finger 46 and pin member 40 backward so that most of the retraction of pin member 40 is accomplished during this period. Thus, by the time the breechblock 16 has dropped a distance equal to onehalf the diameter of the protruding portion 42, the pin member 40 is almost completely retracted. As a result, the protruding portion 42 does not scrape the base of cartridge 14 during the lowering of the breechblock. Further, this design enhances the mechanical advantage of lever 26 in cocking pin member 40. During the initial movement of lever 26, described above, when a slight force is exerted by spring 48 on pin member 40, pin member 40 is almost completely retracted. However, 'after this point it becomes increasingly diflicult to move pin member 40 backward against the compressed spring 48. With the present design, in the final phase of the retraction of pin member 40 to its fully cocked position, the roller 36 moves finger member 46 only a slight distance as compared to the large movement of handle portion 32. The mechanical advantage resulting from this effect substantially reduces the force necessary to move pin member 40 to its final, fully cocked position. Thus, as a result of the present design, the firearm of this invention can be easily cocked with a minimum of force.

The scar 56 is part of trigger mechanism 58 which is mounted on breech block 16, and whose operation will not be described herein since it is not a part of the present invention. When the trigger lever 59 is depressed, sear 56 is lowered out of depression 57 to release the pin member 40, so that firing pin 42 may strike the cartridge in the barrel. Any type of trigger mechanism may be used with the present invention which utilizes a scar, or other type of member, that locks in depression 57 to hold the pin member 40 in a fully cooked position. The pin member 40 is prevented from rotating during its usual operation, by a shoulder area 60 of pin member 40. As is clearly seen in FIG. 9, shoulder 60 has four threaded bores 62 located therein such that a threaded bolt 64 can threadably engage any bore 62 which is directly above channel 66. Since the head of bolt 64 travels in the longitudinal channel 66 in the breechblock, the pin member 40 is prevented from rotating during the usual operation of the firearm.

It is also desired that finger member 46 be mounted on pin member 40 so that it may be easily positioned on any point along the longitudinal axis of pin member 40. As explained previously, in order for the firearm to operate properly, finger 46 must be in contact with roller 36 when lever 26 is in its initial position so that pin member 40 will be moved backward as soon as lever 26 is moved. However, the positioning of the parts in this manner is not consistently possible with ordinary manufacturing tolerances. With the present invention, after lever 26 is mounted, the pin member 40 is simply rotated until finger 46 comes into contact with roller 36. Then bolt 64 is threaded into a bore 62 located directly above channel 66 so as to maintain pin member 40 and finger 46 in the desired fixed position. It can be .seen that the above arrangement provides a simple and efiicient means for the proper positioning of pin member 40 and, in particular, finger 46 which is acted upon by roller 36. It can also be understood that, in place of shoulder area 60, a nut member which threadably engages pin member 40 can be used. Threaded bolt 64 would then pass through a bore on the nut member, such as bore 62, to engage the pin member 40 and prevent it from rotating.

Another aspect of the present invention is the use of an extracting lever 68 to automatically, partially eject cartridges from the barrel when the breechblock 16 is moved below the barrel 12. This is necessary with the weapon of the present invention since the movement of breechblock 16 in close contact with the frame 10, necessitates that the cartridge fit snugly into the barrel with no portion protruding which will interfere with the travel of the breechblock 16. Thus, a cartridge so fitted in the barrel would be extremely ditficult to remove with ones fingers since there is no gripping surface.

The extracting lever 68 is also pivotally mounted on pin 30. Crank lever 26 has a shoulder 70 at the point at which it is pivotally mounted on pin 30. When handle portion 32 abuts the stock 34, the plunger 72 acted upon by spring 74, engages shoulder 70 to keep the handle portion 32 pressed against the stock 34 and prevent the lowering of breechblock 16 by incidental jarring of the weapon. The plunger 72 is prevented from leaving frame when the weapon is being assembled, by pin 76 engaging detent 78 in the plunger. The spring 74 rests on pin 80 in acting upon plunger 72. When the handle 32 is moved downward to the open position to cock the pin member 40, the plunger 72 will press into detent 82 on lever 26 to hold the crank lever 26 in the open position, as shown in FIG. 4. If crank lever 26 is pivoted beyond this point, then pin 84, positioned on discs 18, comes into contact with lower arm 86 of lever 68 so as to pivot lever 68. This causes upper arm 88 to move out of its rest position, carrying with it the end of cartridge 14, as viewed in FIG. 5.

If crank lever 26 is then released, the plunger 72 acting upon detent 82, causes the crank lever to return to the position shown in FIGS. 4 and 8. Since pin 84 is no longer acting upon lower arm 86, the upper arm 88 may be moved to its original position manually or by insertion of a new cartridge in the barrel. In the preferred embodiment, spring plunger mechanism 90 is used to engage extracting lever 68 to cause the lever to pivot, such that upper arm 88 returns to its original position in the side of the barrel. It should also be understood that the spring plunger mechanism 72 may be mounted in the body of extracting lever 68 instead of the frame of the firearm.

The present extracting mechanism can operate with both ordinary and rimless cartridges. To accomplish this, the lever 68 is mounted on pin 30 such that upper arm 88 will be flexed away from the cartridge when an ordinary cartridge is in the barrel, as viewed in FIG. 6. It can be noted that a portion of the rear end wall of barrel 12 is cut away, such that upper arm 88 can fit snugly therein and have its end abut the rims of cartridge 14. When a rimless cartridge 92 is inserted in the barrel then, as viewed in FIG. 7, the end of arm 88 presses into the depression at the end of the cartridge. Thus, arm 88 holds the cartridge in position in barrel 12 and can extract the cartridge when necessary. In this case, since the end of arm 88 presses into the depression in the cartridge, the arm is not flexed away from the cartridge.

Thus, the weapon of the present invention has eliminated the above-cited disadvantages of the prior art weapons. The simple bearing and disc mechanism for moving the breechblock has eliminated the operating and maintenance problems caused by excessive friction in the prior art weapons. Further, the present invention provides simple but extremely efficient means for determining and setting the travel of the firing pin. Simple and efficient means are also provided for automatically partially extracting shells from the barrel by cooperation with the movement of the disc and bearing means. It can be seen that this weapon is constructed from fewer, simpler and more eflicient operating parts than the prior art weapons.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above article without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A firearm comprising:

a frame having a recess therein;

a crank lever mounted upon said frame for pivoting movement relative thereto;

means interconnecting said lever and said structure such that pivoting of said lever axially moves said breechblock by the force transmitted thereto by said structure and produces rotation of said structure; and

trigger means for operating said hammer means.

2. A firearm in accordance with claim 1 further including cartridge extracting means responsive to movements of the breechblock for partially extracting the cartridge from said barrel.

3. A firearm in accordance with claim 2 wherein said barrel has a cut away portion in a side thereof and wherein said cartridge extracting means comprises an extracting lever member having an upper arm and a lower arm, said lever member being pivotally mounted on said frame, and further comprises means acting upon said extracting lever so as to position said upper arm in said cut away portion so that it may engage the end of a cartridge in said barrel.

4. A firearm in accordance with claim 3 wherein an abutment pin is positioned upon said disk such that upon manual movement of said crank lever said abutment pin engages the lower arm of said lever member to cause said upper arm to pass out of said cut away portion in said barrel to partially extract a cartridge in said barrel.

5. A firearm in accordance with claim 1 wherein said hammer means comprises a spring biased hammer slideably mounted for axial movement between cocked and fired positions, said hammer having a firing pin at one end adapted to strike said cartridge.

6. A firearm in accordance with claim 5 wherein the forward external surface of said hammer is threaded and wherein a finger member is threadably mounted thereon such that it is engaged by said crank lever when said crank lever is pivoted so as to move said hammer against its spring bias such that said hammer may engage said trigger means so as to be retained in said cocked position.

7. A firearm in accordance with claim 6 wherein said hammer has a shoulder area thereon with at least one threaded bore and said breechblock has a longitudinal channel therein, and wherein a threaded bolt is positioned in said bore in said shoulder area such that the head of said bolt rides in said longitudinal channel to prevent said hammer from rotating during operation of said firearm.

8. A firearm in accordance with claim 6 wherein said structure comprises at least one disk and wherein said bearing means comprises a plurality of needle bearing elements positioned in a side wall of said breechblock.

9. A firearm in accordance with claim 6 wherein said structure comprises two disks respectively rotatably mounted in the side walls of said breechblock and wherein a portion of said crank lever is formed into two extending flanges such that both flanges are respectively connected to said disks such that upon manual movement of said crank lever said breechblock is moved in said frame with a minimum of friction.

'10. A firearm in accordance with claim 6 wherein a roller is mounted at an end of said crank lever such that said roller can engage said finger member when said crank lever is manually moved.

11. A firearm in accordance with claim 10 further including spring biased plunger means positioned in said frame for acting upon said crank lever so as to tend to maintain said crank lever in a certain predetermined position.

12. A firearm comprising:

a frame having a recess therein;

a barrel, adapted to receive a cartridge, mounted on said frame in communicating relationship to said recess;

a breechblock mounted within said recess for axial upward and downward movemtnt transverse to the axis of said barrel between a raised position and a lowered position;

hammer means positioned in said breechblock to move between cocked and fired positions for discharging said cartridge in the raised position of said breechblock;

a crank lever pivotally mounted on said frame and connected to said breechblock such that said breechblock may be moved between the raised and lowered positions by movement of said crank lever;

an abutment member in said breechblock adapted to be contacted and displaced by said crank lever during movement of said breechblock from the raised position to the lowered position for moving said hammer means from the fired to the cocked position;

means connecting said abutment member to said hammer means to permit relative movement therebetween such that said abutment member may be adjusted;

means to releasably engage said hammer means for permitting and preventing relative movement between said abutment member and said hammer means; and

trigger means for releasing said hammer means from the cocked position thereof.

13. A firearm in accordance with claim 12 wherein said hammer means comprises a threaded surface and said abutment member comprises a threaded surface in threaded engagement with said hammer means threaded surface, and wherein said releasably engaging means comprises a threaded bolt, said breechblock having a longitudinal channel for guiding the travel of said bolt and said abutment member, and wherein said hammer means comprises a plurality of radially extending threaded bores in which said bolt may be selectively secured, whereby removal of said bolt from said hammer means, rotation of said hammer means and subsequent securing of said bolt to one of said bores effects adjustment of said abutment member.

14. A firearm comprising:

a frame having a recess therein;

a barrel, adapted to receive a cartridge, mounted on said frame in communicating relationship to said recess;

a breechblock mounted within the recess for axial upward and downward movement transverse to the axis of said barrel between a raised position and lowered position;

hammer means positioned in said breechblock to move between cocked and fired positions for discharging a cartridge in the raised position of said breechblock;

a disk mounted within said breechblock for rotation relative thereto;

bearing means interposed between said disk and said breechblock to reduce friction therebetween during rotation of said disk;

a crank lever mounted upon said frame for pivoting movement relative thereto;

means interconnecting said lever and said disk such that pivoting of said lever axially moves said breech block between the raised and lowered positions by the force transmitted thereto by said disk and produces rotation of said disk an abutment member in said breechblock adapted to be contacted and displaced by said lever during movement of said breechblock from the raised position to the lowered position for moving said hammer means from the fired to the cocked position means connecting said abutment member to said hammer means to permit relative movement therebetween such that the abutment member may be adjusted;

means to releasably engage said hammer means for permitting and preventing relative movement between said abutment member and said hammer means; and

trigger means for releasing said hammer means from the cocked positon thereof.

15. A firearm comprising:

a frame having a recess therein;

a barrel, adapted to receive a cartridge and having a cut away portion, mounted on said frame in communicating relationship to said recess;

a breechblock mounted within said recess for axial upward and downward movement transverse to the axis of said barrel between a raised position and a lowered position;

hammer means positioned in said breechblock to move between cocked and fired positions for discharging said cartridge in the raised position of said breechblock;

a crank lever mounted upon said frame for pivoting movement relative thereto;

means interconnecting said lever and said breechblock such that pivoting of said lever axially moves said breechblock;

trigger means for operating said hammer means;

an extracting lever, having an upper arm and a lower arm, pivotally mounted on said frame for partially removing said cartridge from said barrel after it has been fired by said hammer means, said upper arm being partially received within said cut away portion of said barrel so as to engage the cartridge received by said barrel such that pivoting of said extracting lever in a predetermined direction will partially extract said cartridge;

means remote from said breechblock to contact said lower arm and bias said extracting lever for pivoting movement in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction to urge said upper arm toward said cut away portion; and

a projection on said breechblock adapted to contact said lower arm after said breechblock is moved downwardly from said raised position to an intermediate position between said raised and lowered positions and to pivot said extracting lever in said predetermined direction during further downward movement of said breechblock, thereby to extract said cartridge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 39,479 8/1863 Gross 4228 3,355,833 12/1967 Ruger et a1. 42-23 FOREIGN PATENTS 180,487 6/1922 Great Britain 42--23 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner I. M. HANLEY, Assistant Examiner 

